Chinese self-propelled robots find strange stones on the Moon

China's Jade Rabbit self-discovery device discovered a new basalt while searching for minerals on the Moon's surface.

40 years ago, the US and Russia also collected basalt rock samples on the Moon . But China's Rabbit Pearl explorer found a new rock with a completely different mineral composition, according to Christian Science Monitor.

"We found that a new basalt type has a special mineral combination compared to samples from Apollo, Luna and the Moon meteorite , " the scientists said in a study published Dec. 22. in Nature Communications magazine.

The stones were discovered when the exploratory device checked the craters in the Mare Imbrium area on the Moon. This is a place with young geological features, formed about 2.9 billion years ago.

Chinese Moon Explorers Robot.(Photo: CNSA).

A careful study of the mineral composition of rocks can help scientists better understand the evolution of the Moon , the Earth's natural satellite. "The chemical and mineralogical information from the self-propelled explorer Ngoc Ngoc provides the fundamental knowledge of the formation of some of the youngest volcanoes on the Moon," the researchers shared.

The formation of the Moon has long been a mystery. One of the most convincing explanations is that the Moon is formed from debris in a collision between two planets. According to the giant impact theory, one of the two planets is the early Earth. The other object is Theia , a large planet the size of Mars.

Understanding the composition of the Moon can help scientists determine what happened. If it is possible to identify the substances that combine to form the Moon, they can find its origin.

Because volcanic activity helps bring minerals from the core of a planet to the surface, studying volcanic rocks is also the key to determining the composition of the Moon. Basalt found by self-propelled rabbit Ngoc has a different mineral composition from previous findings and this difference tells many things.

"The diversity tells us that the mineral composition of the Moon's crust is less homogeneous than Earth. When we parallel the chemical composition with age, we can see the volcanic structure of the Moon. change over time, " The Guardian quoted Bradley Joliff at Washington University in St Louis, USA, a member of the research team.

Because minerals crystallize at different temperatures when volcanic rocks cool, the stones with different ingredients can reveal information about what goes on deep inside the Moon.